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Eat your heart out, pun lovers (cough, Sean Keeley, cough). After a pretty lopsided wooing period where Trey's timeline was almost exclusively SU-related, he finally pulled the trigger and committed to Scott Shafer's staff.
Excited to announce I have officially committed to Syracuse University hope y'all are ready for 2016 season!
— Trey Dunkelberger7⃣ (@TreyDunk7) November 24, 2014
Dunkelberger is currently attending Los Angeles Pierce College, a Junior College in California which, according to Wikipedia, counts Shia Leboeuf amongst its alumni. Trey's originally from Pennsylvania and attended Governor Mifflin HS, so he's very familiar with the northeast, which should allow him to settle in pretty well.
It's also an interesting case, as Trey's not a typical JUCO, since he can play three seasons for the Orange while most JUCOs only have two years of eligibility. This also means that Sean will have three whole years to use his name in every wonderful pun you can think of!
It's also interesting that SU wasn't really recruiting a TE until Tim Lester took over the Orange offense. I think it's a sign that the TE becomes more utilized next season, but I also think Dunkelberger's athleticism is too much to pass up.
Trey's a January enrollee, as the Orange have 4 slots they can fill and backdate to the 2014 class. This should allow him to acclimate himself to Syracuse and the offense, and come out ready to play as a Redshirt Sophomore in 2015.
He chose the Orange over offers from Akron, South Florida, and Cincinnati. According to Stephen Bailey with the Post Standard, Louisville and OSU showed strong interest in him as well.
Tape Breakdown
Dunkelberger's team didn't really throw him the ball that much, but I love that the tape mostly highlights his blocking. This kid does not quit on the play and doesn't stop driving his feet until the whistle blows. It reminded me of Gronk "throwing people out of the club." If he improves his technique under this staff, he'll be a bulldozer on the edge, but one who's athletic enough to rub his man and get open for big yardage.
He also ran the exact bubble screen McDonald ran for Custis a few times earlier in the season. It doesn't mean much, just thought it was interesting.
I think he's definitely a prospect worth taking a shot on, and I'm excited to see how we can use him moving forward, as his athleticism is clearly too good to pass up.